Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tea Party darling, did what any decent human being would do in the age of Twitter… he tweeted condolences to Mandela’s family and the people of South Africa.

And then, as they say, no good deed goes unpunished. The outpouring of hatred, bigotry and intolerance from Ted Cruz’s right-wing base flooded his Facebook page and Twitter timeline.

If you can tell a lot about a politician by the people who follow him, then the reactions from the angry, perhaps former supporters of Ted Cruz speak volumes about who he is and what his followers think of him. Prior to Cruz’s compassionate, humane posts about the loss of a great global leader, Cruz was the standard bearer for the Tea Party and the right-wing of Texas. Now, as his (former) supporters are saying, he has revealed himself to be a commie-lover and terrorist sympathizer.

The reaction to his posts reveals that Cruz sits (sat?) atop a mountain of hate; a sea of Americans who will never forgive anyone who ever associates with their enemies, no matter to what end. Even if Mandela’s political alliances were all to serve the mission of liberating a nation of oppressed people, he remains forever tainted in the eyes of the far-right in America. And while many on the left have also leveled criticisms of Mandela, the response to Cruz was dominated by his betrayed supporters, from the right.

Ted Cruz is the political leader the far right looks to and they found him lacking.

So take heed. You may seek to control your image by controlling what you share on social media. But in the end, you will be defined as much by how your supporters react to you as you will by your own words.

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I love this writing. It's very interesting to read. I also like that it's simple and to the point. As a college student interested in politics, alot of the writing I've seen about politics has been very confusing. This is true even after taking political science courses.

Sadly the online political discussions are becoming more polarizing. It's the risk you take when you use online media to promote your political agenda. We saw the same types of comments here in North Carolina when elected leaders posted condolences regarding Mandela's death.

When you audience controls you, you cannot win. The example of Ted Cruz is self explanatory, the politician raised an audience of right wing and as soon as he doesn't follow the guidelines he set up before, the audience is trashing him. This article also shows how important precise guidelines are on social media.

Some folks on Twitter seem to have missed the point of this post. This is not an assessment of the commenters to Cruz. I am not trying to say that only conservatives have criticized Cruz for his kind words about Mandela.

My point is that many, many of the hateful comments about Mandela and about Cruz's expression of his condolences are coming from Ted Cruz's base. It is his strongest fans that are pissed at him for even suggesting that Mandela, his family an South Africa are deserving of kind words at the time of Mandela's death.

The fact that some on the left, who already dislike Cruz, criticize his posts is simply irrelevant to the point of this post.

Regardless of this, I thank everyone for reading, sharing and commenting on this and my other posts. Conversation is king. Carpe colloquium.